Because I Love You
by TrentNight
Summary: A Story about love, war, friendship, and life. Four Children must save the world by piloting for the ones they love, and for all of humanity.


Disclaimer: I do not own Gainax. I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion. I do not own any of the characters in the series (although I'd love to own Rei). The only thing that I own is my trustworthy little Pentium 4 and the text you see below you, namely, the plot. So if you decide to sue me, you can either choose between my PC or my shirt. And I probably won't give you either =P. So without further BS, let the story begin.  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
I shivered once more as the cool wind cut across my body, mercilessly blowing my hair into disarray. As I raised my eyes to the sky, I could clearly see the sky. Along with the sky there was the full moon shining in all its lunar glory, the stars that formed the constellations, and far below me, the city lights of Tokyo 3.  
  
My name is Shinji Ikari. I am now currently 15 years old and I am the ex- pilot of Evangelion Unit 01. The cliff I was standing at had been one of the first places my guardian and dear friend Misato had brought me to when I first arrived at Tokyo 3. You could say that it was my birthplace into this city of pain. And now, it would also be the death place. I looked once more at the sharp drop that I would make; there were no trees or plants at the bottom that might break my fall. That was ok, I wanted to land hard.  
  
Some people say that when you die, your entire life flashes before your eyes. However, I had never been told that before you die, you reflect back on your life, and count all the blessings, and curses that you have received during the time you have been alive. I walked to the edge of the cliff and sighed my last time. Then I stood there with my arms wide apart as the scenes of my life slowly came to my eyes.  
  
~*~*~ Eleven Years Ago ~*~*~  
  
Shinji pressed his face against the thick glass window pane as he strained to see the scene in front of him unfold before his eyes. His memory had been quite fazed at that time as he was only five years old, but this was the only thing that he remembered crystal clear. It was that day that started the end of his life. He didn't know why his mother had on some tight white suit or why she had two clips on either side of her head that made her resemble a cat. Least of all, he did not understand why she was entering some big white tube that had come out of a giant purple and green robot. The kind of robots that were in the anime that he watched. Today had been his birthday and his mother and father had asked him what he wanted for his birthday present. His reply had been that he would be in their presence the entire day. For some mysterious reason, his parents always seemed to be at work and hardly had any time for him; hence his nanny was the one that usually took care of him. When he had made his request, both of his parents had exchanged a worried glance between each other but after a little talk they finally complied with his wishes.  
  
Shinji remembered squealing with joy as he was brought by the hand to his father's office. His mother smiled at him as she climbed into the big white tube and it sealed shut. He remembered asking his father what was happening and his father explained to him that it was a test on their company's newest discovery and breakthrough. Back then, he had called it 'Project E'. However, as the tube was injected back into the big robot he had began to worry. What if something went wrong with the test and his mother got hurt?  
  
Unbeknownst to others, Shinji had his hands in a tight grip on each other, praying that everything would be ok. He didn't understand back then, and even later never did. However, no explanation was needed, only a few minutes after his mother had been injected in, red warning signs were flashing somewhere and his father had been bellowing orders down to the workers and technicians below. It was all a futile attempt, because for some reason, Shinji knew that he had lost his mother already and that she wouldn't be coming back.  
  
He couldn't stop the tears from spring forth from his eyes, as he turned to see his father he found that his father had a tear streaked face as well. For the rest of the day, Shinji sat in the corner of his room while his father sat at his office, his father apparently had told him that he was writing a report. Shinji did not understand why his father would write a report at this time and when he asked one of the technicians that were seated at the big computers he told Shinji that it was a necessary process when something terrible like this happened.  
  
After that, everything happened so fast that he couldn't remember a good portion of it. His father didn't come home for two weeks and when he finally did, he had ignored Shinji like he did not even exist. And one week after, his nanny brought him the news that he would live with his sensei. And that was the way it was for ten years.  
  
~*~*~ Ten Years Later ~*~*~  
  
Shinji stood at the telephone booth with nothing but his small backpack of belongings and a picture of a very attractive woman named Misato Katsuragi that was suppose to pick him up. However, he had been waiting thirty minutes when a loud wailing alarm rang throughout the entire city. He had tried to use the phone but there had been a recording telling him that due to some emergency all phone lines were to be temporarily cut. Now he was starting to get nervous. He was alone, in a big city, waiting for someone who didn't seem to be coming, and he had no way on contacting her. What made things worse were that the entire streets were empty as well. A few minutes ago, the streets were still full, but then everyone seemed to be scrambling to go to some 'shelter' or that was what they called it anyways. Since he didn't have a shelter to go to, he had stayed where he was, at the telephone booth. That was, until the alarm had rang. He glanced down at his watch and realized that it was actually already 12:50 pm. He had given Misato way too much credit. She wasn't half an hour late, she was fifty minutes late. He sighed as he picked up his belongings and began to look for somewhere he could find some help.  
  
Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw someone across the street in a school uniform. He turned his head to get a better look at her and noticed that she was actually quite pretty and cute. From where he stood at least, her skin was quite pale and her short light blue hair was kind of messy, but it framed her face perfectly and the color of her hair and skin had a nice contrast.  
  
He was crossing the street towards her intent on asking her where he could find some shelter when all of a sudden the earth below him shook fiercely and he fell backwards onto the hard concrete floor. When he got up however, the girl that he had saw just a few seconds ago was already gone, he looked around but he saw no sign of her, or a car that might have come to pick her up. He wondered if she had just been a piece of his imagination as he had been going through quite a bit of stress lately. His father had called two days ago telling him, no, more like ordering him to come to Tokyo 3. For whatever reason, Shinji honestly did not know, but he was sure that Misato would explain it to him. She had sounded friendly enough in the letter she had sent him along with her photo.  
  
Whatever train of thoughts he had at the moment were destroyed by the sound of fighter jets in the distance. Only after he saw the gigantic black and grey monster that was following did he finally register what was going on. He concluded that there had to have been some sort of a war or invasion, and that was why everyone was fleeing for shelter.  
  
'Well...' he thought, 'That thing won't stand much of a chance against all those missiles homing into it.' True to his thought, several large missiles crashed into the monster and detonated cleanly, wiping out a good chunk of the city in the process. However, as the smoke and dust cleared and he saw the mass of black and grey still standing there, evidently not even scratched by the dozen or so missiles that had crashed into it a few seconds ago all Shinji could do was blink and let his mouth fall open.  
  
He rubbed his eyes and looked again, still there. Next he tried shaking his head, still there. Finally, he decided to slap himself. Hard. Still there. Things didn't get any better for his brain as the monster destroyed a nearby fighter jet with a laser that came out of its eye. Afterwards, the monster seemed to jump, although levitate would have been a much better term for what happened, a couple blocks and landed awfully close to where Shinji was standing. Knocking him back onto the ground again of course. Just when he thought everything was over and covered his face with his arms, waiting for the death he was sure would come to him, the sound of screeching tires and brakes sounded and a car pulled in front of him. When he opened his eyes to see who it was, he recognized her immediately as the girl who was in the picture, evidently Misato. Words could not describe the relief that rushed through his body as he quickly scrambled into the car, waiting to be taken to safety.  
  
"Sorry" she said in a cheerful tone. "Were you waiting long?"  
  
"Not THAT long, just under an hour" he replied gruffly. "But it doesn't matter now, let's just go alright?"  
  
"We're already gone" With that, she shifted the gear to 'rear' mode and backed the car up at a mach 4 speed, just in time to avoid the giant black foot that descended where their car was a few seconds ago.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
In an underground base, far below the city of Tokyo 3 sat three generals of the UN army. They had been issuing orders to the army on the battle field for a constant several minutes now. However, nothing seemed to be having any effect on the angel. They had tried air bombers, homing missiles, and even artillery, all put to shame. They were running out of options when one of them received a call from his commanding officer.  
  
"General Mateshuru speaking"  
  
"General, this is Commander Natemo, call back your forces and deploy the use of a N2 mine" said the voice on the other line.  
  
"Yes sir, I understand. We'll execute the plan at once." the general quickly replied before hanging up.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Through the binoculars, Misato could see the air force withdrawing out of battle. This could only have meant one thing.  
  
"Shit"  
  
She had barely enough time to finish that one word before a plan came in and dropped a N2 mine on the angel. A pillar of light erupted from where the angel stood and blasted everything to oblivion that was within a 10 mile radius from it. The captain's brand new blue sports car flipped over several times from the impact of the blast. When the rolling stopped, Misato checked over herself for any injuries but had gotten away with only a few minor cuts and bruises. Shinji, on the other hand was not as fortunate. He was sporting a long gash down the side of his face stretching all the way from his temple to the middle of his cheek. Also, his left arm seemed to be a bent in a strange way, and although he was trying to keep his cool about it, Misato could tell that he was gritting his teeth from trying to cry out loud in pain. Unfortunately, the car was now on its side and she would have to ask for his help to help her flip it back over. After a lot of straining and cursing (from Misato) they were finally able to tip the car back over onto its tires.  
  
"We're going to have to take you to the NERV infirmary to have your arm and face treated ok, Shinji-kun?"  
  
"Ok, Miss Katsuragi"  
  
"Just Misato will be fine, Shinji-kun"  
  
He nodded in answer but that was about it as he had to use every ounce of energy in his body to keep from crying out in pain. Living in quite a domestic life for the past ten years of his life, he was never in much of a danger of getting injured. The most serious injury he had ever had was when he fell of his bike when he was nine years old. And even then, he had come out with only a few cuts, this time was totally different.  
  
He shuddered as there was another earthquake, although it was no where near as strong as the impact that the exploded N2 mine had produced, it was still enough to send shivers all the way down his spine and back.  
  
While Misato was busy driving and keeping her eyes out for obstacles she stole a quick glance at Shinji. "Does it really hurt?" she asked in a concerned voice.  
  
"Yeah, it does actually. Quite a bit in fact. Heck, I'll just say it. It hurts like hell, but you DID say you were taking me to a hospital right?"  
  
She nodded as she kept her eyes on the road in front of her. "Yup, and when you go there you'll be seeing your dad. Are you excited?"  
  
He looked down as he answered her, "I'm not sure, really. I haven't seen him in about ten years. I don't really know what to say to him"  
  
She gave him an apologetic look and continued driving silently. When she finally reached a large building which had a large leaf and the word 'NERV' going across it diagonally as a logo, she parked the car right in front of the entrance of the building and got out of the car. "Let's go, Shinji- kun"  
  
He nodded numbly as he followed her into the building and watched her silently as she took out what seemed to be a pass card and swiped it through a detector. When the door opened she led him through a series of hallways until they were in the medical wing. There she met a doctor who was holding a clip board and running down the hall. She stood in front of his path to block his way.  
  
Glancing up irritably he glared at her and said, "Get out of my way, woman. I'm a very busy man and you standing here blocking people isn't helping any"  
  
She didn't move a muscle save her face muscles as she replied disapprovingly. "You may call me Captain Katsuragi; and you will take care of this boy's wounds now"  
  
The poor doctor almost dropped his clipboard as he blinked and apologized profusely after he had noticed her badge. He then led Shinji to a nearby room and amazingly had his arm fixed up into a sling after a few minutes of diligently working. After his arm had been taken care of, he took some ointment out of a nearby cupboard that was supposed to prevent any infection along the cut on his face. At last, he finished up his work by applying a long band aid to cover the cut which would eventually develop into a rather nasty scar.  
  
Shinji then followed Misato through another stretch of tunnels while she ranted about how his father should give her a raise due to the expensive cost of living that was rapidly developing in Tokyo 3. She explained how her car had just been bought a couple weeks ago and now the repairs couldn't be anywhere under twenty thousand dollars U.S. money (it was imported). When they finally reached a place that looked like it was the end of the long halls, Misato stepped onto a descending escalator and began what seemed to be a very long descent. Shinji nervously followed her and was greatly relieved as walls appeared and encircled them, forming a box shape. However, through the walls there was still a pretty big window where he could look outside and when he did he was shocked to see that they were under the city! As they descended further he could see more and more of the Geofront that lay under the magnificent city above them.  
  
Misato smiled softly as she saw the expression on his face. She still remembered the first time she had been brought down here; it was about twelve years ago. At that time, she had just come out of her cationic state and had graduated from college. She had been brought down because her friend Ritsuko Akagi was being brought down by her mother to take a tour around NERV in order to begin familiar with the place and later, become her mother's assistant. After a lot of pleading, Misato had finally convinced Ritsuko's mother to let her accompany her on the tour. When Misato took the tour, she had been so amazed by the technology and scientific advances of the company that she had promised herself then that she would become a high ranking official of NERV. Which had brought her to her current state, Captain Katsuragi. Her job was chief strategist and battle operator, along with a bunch of other minor duties such as typing out reports when things went wrong. The going had been hard, but she was proud of herself, she would finally have a chance to gain revenge upon the cursed angels that had caused Second Impact and ruined her life.  
  
As her gaze fell upon the young boy that stood in front of her, she wondered what his purpose of being here was. She knew that the commander had summoned him, but why? So she decided to ask him.  
  
"By the way, did you get an ID card from your father, Shinji-kun?"  
  
"Yes" he mumbled as he rummaged through his small bag of belongings. After a short search he pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper and handed it to her. "Here you go"  
  
She took the paper and after straightening it out a little bit, she read it to see if she would get any clues on why this mysterious boy had been brought to Tokyo 3 and why she had been assigned to pick him up at a time like this.  
  
To say she was disappointed would be an understatement.  
  
To say that she was megaly super ubertrociously disappointed would come close after you times it by ten.  
  
On the wrinkled sheet of paper, almost nothing had been written on it besides the word 'COME' and then signed by the commander himself, 'Gendo Ikari'. On the side were details about Shinji. Things like the date of his birth, the place of his birth, his blood type, and so on. However, either than that, there wasn't much information that seemed to be included about the boy.  
  
"Do you know why you were brought to Tokyo 3?" she asked the now very silent Shinji.  
  
He shook his head before replying, "My father owns this company, so I guess he wanted me to work for him or something. There's no other reason why he would call me here."  
  
"I take it that your relationship with your father isn't very good?"  
  
"Oh it's ok," he said sarcastically. "After my mother died he sent me off to live with my teacher for ten years and hasn't contacted me since. And now he's telling me to come here and work for him".  
  
She couldn't help but notice the venom dripping in his voice. The words 'This kid and his pops need a good father to son talk' were flashing in her brain every millisecond. She shook the thought out of her head and handed him a small guidebook regarding information on NERV. "In that book you'll find a map, and all the information you'll ever need to know about NERV. That is, until you become a higher ranking officer"  
  
He took the book into his hands and flipped it open. True enough, on the very first page there was a large map of NERV. Included on the map was the location of all the different wings, the restricted areas, the testing areas, the facilities, and even the washrooms. He couldn't help but feel a little impressed by the neatness and order of it all. As he flipped to the next page he could see a table of contents, which had several topics listed down the page. As his eyes scanned through the list of topics, he asked Misato a question that had been on his mind for quite a while now. "Exactly where are we going to go once we get into NERV, Misato-san?"  
  
She pondered his question for a small moment before replying, "I guess we're going to go meet your father, the commander first. After that, I honestly don't know, but there's an angel attack going on right now above the city so I would assume that I would be needed at the bridge. Maybe you can come and watch too."  
  
He nodded in response to this. He didn't know what was going on above the city, but he certainly wanted to see how his father's company would stop it if a whole army of heavily armed fighting jets and artillery tanks couldn't take it down. Somehow, he had a bad feeling that he would be playing some role in it. Why else would his father call him back to Tokyo 3 all the way from the countryside? However, as they reached the end of the ride, these thoughts were pushed away from his mind as the anticipation of seeing his father grew greater. He didn't know whether he should be mad, or happy to see the man who had once abandoned him a long time ago.  
  
~*~*~ One Hour Later ~*~*~  
  
Shinji followed Misato through another long series of halls for the umpteenth time. He did not understand how the captain could be so good with roads and so bad with halls. They were more or less the same thing weren't they? "Misato-san, I think we have already been to this section of NERV a few times"  
  
Misato scratched her head sheepishly a few times before answering, "He, well it looks like we're lost then, Shinji-kun. But don't worry, they'll send someone to look for us when we don't' show up at the bridge." Not even a minute passed after she said that when an announcement was made throughout NERV.  
  
"Would the chairperson of Project E, Technical Department Division 1"  
  
"Dr. Ritsuko Akagi"  
  
"Please contact Captain Misato Katsuragi of Operations, Division 1, immediately"  
  
Once hearing these words, Misato flashed Shinji a bright smile that said 'I told you so'. They entered an elevator to go up to the 28th level; when it stopped they were confronted by a somewhat frustrated Ritsuko Akagi.  
  
"I don't believe you Misato, you've been working at NERV for over three years and you STILL don't know your way around??"  
  
Misato raised her hands in defense as she replied, "Hey! It's not my fault they made the place so big!"  
  
Ritsuko and Shinji both gave her a disapproving look before Ritsuko finally noticed the silent boy. "Is he the one?" she asked, gesturing towards Shinji with her right hand.  
  
Misato nodded, "Yeah, according to the Marduk Reports, he's the third child"  
  
'Third Child', the term ran through Shinji's head over and over again when he heard it. What did it mean? If he was the third child, then there should be a first and a second child too then right? It would only make sense, but then again, things just weren't making sense lately.  
  
"So" Misato asked, "What's the status of Unit 01?"  
  
"It's going through the refrigeration process, using the B-Type equipment"  
  
"I wonder how it'll work; we haven't been able to get it to activate before have we? Rei has tried many times all with no success"  
  
Ritsuko shook her head as she replied, "The chance for a successful activation is 0.000000001 %"  
  
Misato blinked once, then twice. "So... how are we going to fight the angel?"  
  
"We have no choice but to sortie Rei into Unit 00 to try and fight the angel. It's the best chance we have in this situation, even though she was injured in the activation test a couple weeks earlier."  
  
Misato shook her head again dejectedly "That girl has a will of steel, nothing will stop her from obeying orders even if it means her life. I guess that's what happens when a commander of a dangerous organization has to raise a child." She immediately regretted saying those words as she saw Shinji's head perk up and pain registering through his entire face. 'Idiot' she cursed herself, 'Of course he's going to be hurt by something like that' she secretly made a mental note to herself never to bring up the topic of the commander raising Rei.  
  
As they reached the top floor, they entered a room that was shrouded in complete darkness the minute they entered. Suddenly, the lights flicked on and Shinji found himself staring right into the face of a giant purple robot. He took a step backwards and would have fallen off if there hadn't been a railing there to support him. He quickly looked into his manual to see the section for giant robots but found none.  
  
"You won't find this in the manual" Ritsuko told him. "This is man's ultimate weapon of destruction, the Evangelion Unit 01. Mankind's last hope against the angels."  
  
Shinji stared at it for a long time before saying, "Is this what my father has been working on for all these years?"  
  
"Correct" stated a clear voice high above them.  
  
Shinji looked up to find the source of the mysterious voice and was shocked to see his father standing behind a giant window pane of glass.  
  
"It's been a long time, Shinji"  
  
Shinji couldn't help but break the eye contact as he couldn't look into the face of the man who had abandoned coldly so long ago.  
  
"We're moving out" he said, his voice echoing throughout the room.  
  
"What??" cried a surprised Misato, "Are you sure it's wise to use Unit 00? It's not even fully repaired yet!"  
  
She received however, no reply as the commander continued to look at Shinji. Then, realization struck her as Misato made the connection. "Wait... you're not planning on having Shinji pilot Unit 01 are you?"  
  
"Can you offer a better suggestion Captain?"  
  
Misato realized that she couldn't and gave turned to Ritsuko for an answer, unfortunately she received none.  
  
Shinji on the other hand could only stare at her speechlessly. His brain was going through a turmoil stage of disbelief as the events in front of him unfolded again and again. Here was his father, that had left him ten years ago after his mother had died, telling him to pilot a giant robot to fight the monster outside that had single handedly destroyed a whole formation of planes without so much as taking a scratch? Shinji shook his head. "No"  
  
Misato had her eyes downcast as she responded to him, "I'm sorry Shinji, but we have no choice. One of our pilots is injured and her Evangelion hasn't even been fully repaired yet. Our only other pilot is still in Germany. You're the only one that can pilot to save everyone. I know it sounds cruel and heartless, but we have no choice."  
  
"But I haven't received any training whatsoever! How am I suppose to go out there and beat that monster when I don't even know how to move that thing?!?" he literally shrieked.  
  
"You just have to sit in the seat; the rest will be done for you"  
  
"But..."  
  
"You are Man's only hope Shinji, if putting you into the Evangelion to save mankind is the only chance we have, even if it's only a 0.000000001% chance of success, we have to take that risk. I'm really sorry Shinji, but we have no choice."  
  
"Is... is this the only reason why I was sent for, Father?" Shinji asked in a shaky voice.  
  
"If you know the answer, then why do you still ask the question?" the commander replied in a cool tone.  
  
"So you're asking me to take this robot out there and fight that monster above the city?"  
  
"Precisely"  
  
Shinji raised his head in anger and shouted "No way! Do you even care about me? You left me ten years ago without a word and now that you've sent for me you want me to go out there and risk my life so that you and everyone else here might live? How can you ask that of me? You out of all people!!!"  
  
If the words affected the commander in anyway, he hid it well. "I sent for you because the people in the world need you"  
  
Shinji's head lowered to the ground once more as he replied, "Why me? Why?"  
  
"Because no one else can do it"  
  
"There... there's no way I can do this. This is my first time even seeing an Evangelion for Christ's sake! I won't even know what to do once I'm inside!"  
  
"You will be instructed"  
  
"NO!!! I WON'T PILOT THAT THING!!!" Shinji screamed.  
  
At that precise moment, another blast from the angel hit the Geofront and the entire headquarters shook from the impact. Gendo Ikari looked at the boy one last time before issuing his orders. "The angel must have detected our location and is attacking us. We have no more time, the pilot is unusable. Send for the first child."  
  
His second in command looked at him strangely, "Is it wise to send her out to battle in her condition?"  
  
The commander sighed and bowed his head, "We have no choice". He inhaled in some air and spoke again. "Rei"  
  
"Yes" came a soft monotone reply.  
  
"The new pilot is unable to pilot; we shall have to use you to pilot Unit 00 again."  
  
"Yes sir" she replied in a calm voice.  
  
Ritsuko narrowed her eyes and then called out, "Begin the activation process for Unit 00"  
  
The team of technicians present immediately began to run here and there, seemingly busy in their work and showed that they understood the current situation. Shinji stood there with his eyes downcast, shame flooding through his entire body. They were going to have to use a girl that was injured to pilot in his place, because he didn't have the courage to pilot. However, words could not describe the way he felt as he recognized the same girl that he saw on the streets earlier. She had a band aid covering her right eye, and both her arms seemed to be bandaged up. Her head had a similar bandage wrapping around her skin, just under her light blue hair. However, even with all the bandages in the way, he could still clearly recognize her as the girl he saw before. She must have recognized him too, because as she was helped across the bridge, she looked at him and a hint of recognition flashed in her undamaged eye. Shinji quickly looked away again as she was helped into the entry plug of a newly surfaced orange Evangelion that had only one large eye in the center of it's face. As the activation process began, Shinji couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself. Perhaps if he hadn't seen her before, and she wasn't injured so severely then he would feel better. But that wasn't how the way things were. The cold truth lay right in front of his eyes, she was another girl around his age, injured, and she was most likely going out to meet her death.  
  
While he was thinking these thoughts, his hand was taken by Misato as she led him into the bridge room, where all the operations took place. In front of them, were three technicians, seated behind many keyboards and screens. Beside him stood Misato and Ritsuko, while his father and his second in command stood behind a window pane, which was apparently the commander's office, overseeing the entire operation. His fists clenched and unclenched as he watched Rei step into the white entry plug.  
  
"Cooling process complete"  
  
"Cage now in position for docking"  
  
As commands were issued and statuses were reported, Shinji found himself thinking of what might have happened if he chose to pilot it. He knew his father and the people of NERV had no right to ask this of him, especially after the way they had treated him, but then why did he feel guilty and shameful?  
  
"Inserting entry plug"  
  
"Plug fixed into place"  
  
He wondered what really the reason that he came to Tokyo 3 was. Was it to see his father? He highly doubted it; he hadn't exactly forgiven him for his past misdeeds. But if he hadn't come to see his father, then why had he come?  
  
"Filling the entry plug"  
  
He watched the screen which showed the entry plug slowly fill up with some green liquid. He was quite shocked when the filling didn't stop and it reached all the way to the top! He was even more surprised to find that the girl was actually breathing the stuff in!  
  
"Connecting main power"  
  
"All circuits transmitting power"  
  
"Connecting secondary contacts"  
  
"A-10 nerve connections, normal"  
  
"All connections normal"  
  
"Synchronization ratio at 58.4%"  
  
"Harmonics all normal, no disturbances identified"  
  
Misato took a glance at Shinji, who was watching the main screen intently, and then glanced at the screen that showed Rei in the entry plug. She was, as always, calm.  
  
"Are you ready, Rei?"  
  
"Yes" came the monotone reply.  
  
Misato nodded, and then shouted, "Prepare to launch!"  
  
"Launch path is clear, all systems green"  
  
"Ready for launch"  
  
She took one last glance at the commander, "Are you sure about this"  
  
He nodded in affirmative, "Unless we do this, the entire world dies"  
  
Misato nodded again and then turned back to face the screen. Everyone held their breath as Unit 00 was shot up through the passage to above the city. Even Shinji could tell that Rei was at a serious disadvantage. Even if she didn't possess the injuries that she had, her unit was missing its left arm so all she could use as a weapon was her progressive knife. That and combined with the condition of her arms and head, it was almost a suicide mission.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Rei grimaced at the pain that shot through her arms as she clutched the controls for the Eva. She knew the odds were against her considering that her Eva unit was not even fully repaired. Regardless, she was determined to fight to the best of her capabilities, even if it should cost her life. She gripped to progressive knife and charged her enemy.  
  
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Shinji scarcely breathed as he watched the battle on the screen. Even though the odds were greatly against Rei, she had been able to get in the initiative with the element of surprise because the Angel Sachiel had been busy blasting holes in the ground to notice the Evangelion's appearance. He watched as she used her relatively small but evidently very sharp and deadly knife to slice right through the angel's right arm, severing it at the biceps.  
  
Victory was short lived however, as Sachiel howled in pain and brought up its left arm, the one that was capable of shooting a laser, and nimbly blasted Unit 00 squarely in the chest, knocking it to the ground. The angel then tried to get another shot at the Eva's head but it missed when Unit 00 quickly rolled to the side at the very last moment. Unit 00 quickly got to its feet and tried to charge the angel again with its knife. Its plan was foiled however, when the angel brought up its own left hand to knock the knife out of the Eva's hand. What happened later would be best described as a one hand wrestling match between the two giants. The angel seemed to be getting on the upper hand before Unit 00 delivered a swift sharp kick to the angel, knocking them both back to their respective positions from before. Again, speed proved to not be an issue for Unit 00 as it charged the angel one last time, intent on destroying it this time. It tackled Sachiel down onto the ground and began to pound on the angel's mask with its one arm. This continued on for about ten seconds until Sachiel finally blasted Unit 00 fully in the chest again. On the exact same spot as it had before. The energy beam went straight through the armor and exited out the other side of the Evangelion's body.  
  
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Tears sprang to Shinji's eyes as he watched Sachiel straddle the Eva and deliver the exact same type of punishment that it was given only a few seconds ago. Shinji knew that Rei had already lost the moment she entered the Eva. But she had fought anyways, why? Why did she fight even if she knew she was going to die? Why? He clenched his fists tightly and cursed under his breath as the damage reports were being reported.  
  
"The head and chest have been damaged. Extent of damage unknown!" shouted the technician with the glasses.  
  
"The control nerves are breaking off!" informed the girl technician.  
  
"We're not getting any readings on the life signs of the pilot!!!" cried the last tech at the bridge.  
  
"Let me do it!"  
  
Silence took the entire base for a few seconds as everyone stared at the now tear faced and trembling Shinji Ikari. He raised his head once more. "I'll pilot Unit 01".  
  
After that, activity burst again throughout the base as Unit 01 was unfrozen and the unit was recharged. Shinji followed Misato back down to the bridge where he had first seen the robot and he waited impatiently as the entry plug was ejected out of the giant robot. "Hurry UP!" he literally screamed, not noticing the captain that stood beside him, staring at him with blank shock.  
  
Just before he entered the entry plug, Misato asked him one question. "Why?"  
  
Shinji found himself forced into a smile as he replied just before the entry plug was sealed shut and inserted back into the Eva, "I don't know... maybe its fate for me to go out and fight that thing... I don't know how to describe it... it's just a feeling."  
  
To Be Continued...  
  
  
  
Author's Notes: Whooo!!! Look whose back! That's right, I'm back with my new fic and I sincerely hope that it's much better than my last one. I am starting from the beginning this time so that it will cover the entire series. Also, this is NOT a rewrite of "I want to Feel". That story is over, however, my friend will continue it as he finds it interesting and thinks he can do something from it. I will tell you who he is once he posts a chapter up for it. As I was saying, this is NOT a rewrite. This will have a completely different plot although I am unsure of how the pairings will work. Suggestions anyone? (And when you post suggestions on the review board please post a reason too ok? I don't want any 'Asuka is so cool, make it an A/S fic' garbage because those will be ignored.) I hope I kept the characters IC, I honestly tried. But it's kind of hard to do that without just writing out the entire series again as it is, I mean, there has to be SOME changes right? Well anyways, I will be following the canon storyline twisting the storyline in some malicious way whenever I see fit. So as always... PLEASE LEAVE REVIEWS!!!  
  
Till the next chapter! Ja-ne!!  
  
TrentNight liquid_vivi@hotmail.com 


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